Fluorescent and Magnetic Mesoporous Hybrid Material: A Chemical and Biological Nanosensor for Hg(2+) Ions

A Review on Metal Ion Sensors Derived from Chalcone Precursor

Disclosure of new molecular probes as chromogenic and fluorogenic cation sensors is scientifically exigent work. Recently chalcone derivatives gained more attention because of their structural variability. A suitable donor and acceptor groups separated by delocalized π-orbitals display excellent chromogenic and fluorogenic properties because of intramolecular charge transfer (ICT). These designed molecular frameworks provide the coordination sites to the incoming metal ions results in small changes in the optical properties. In a typical sensing behavior, coordination leads to a large conjugation plane with the probe resulted in hypo/hyperchromic shifts or red/blue shifts. In this review, we tried to converge the reported chalcone-derived sensors and explored the design, synthesis, metal ion sensing mechanism, and practical application of the probes. We expect that this review gives a basic outline for researchers to explore the field of chalcone-based sensors further.

Synthesis, crystal structure solution and characterization of two organic-inorganic hybrid layered materials based on metal sulfates and 1,4-phenylenediamine

Two organic-inorganic hybrid layered materials, namely poly[(μ-1,4-diaminobenzene-κ²N:N')[μ₃-sulfato(VI)-κ⁴O:O':O'',O''']manganese], [Mn(SO₄)(C₆H₈N₂)]_n, 1, and poly[(μ-1,4-diaminobenzene-κ²N:N')[μ₃-sulfato(VI)-κ⁴O:O':O'',O''']copper], [Cu(SO₄)(C₆H₈N₂)]_n, 2, have been synthesized using 1,4-phenylenediamine (PPD) as an organic template and component (linker). Both materials form three-dimensional frameworks. The crystal structures were determined using data from powder X-ray diffraction measurements. The purity and morphology of the compounds were studied by elemental analyses and SEM investigations, and their thermal stabilities were determined by thermogravimetric and nonambient powder X-ray diffraction measurements, which indicated that 1 is stable up to 537 K and 2 is stable up to 437 K.

A New Porous Hybrid Material Derived From Silica Fume and Alginate for Sustainable Pollutants Reduction

In this work a new mesoporous adsorbent material obtained from a natural, high abundant raw material and a high volume industrial by-product is presented. The material is consolidated by the gelling properties of alginate and by decomposition of sodium-bicarbonate controlled porosity at low temperatures (70–80°C) at different scale lengths. The structural, thermal, and morphological characterization shows that the material is a mesoporous organic-inorganic hybrid. The material is tested as adsorbent, showing high performances. Methylene blue, used as model pollutant, can be adsorbed and removed from aqueous solutions even at a high concentration with efficiency up to 94%. By coating the material with a 100 nm thin film of titania, good photodegradation performance (more than 20%) can be imparted. Based on embodied energy and carbon footprint of its primary production, the sustainability of the new obtained material is evaluated and quantified in respect to activated carbon as well. It is shown that the new proposed material has an embodied energy lower than one order of magnitude in respect to the one of activated carbon, which represents the gold standards. The versatility of the new material is also demonstrated in terms of its design and manufacturing possibilities In addition, this material can be printed in 3D. Finally, preliminary results about its ability to capture diesel exhaust particulate matter are reported. The sample exposed to diesel contains a large amount of carbon in its surface. At the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that hybrid porous materials are proposed as a new class of sustainable materials, produced to reduce pollutants in the wastewaters and in the atmosphere.

Bandgap and Structure Engineering via Cation Exchange: From Binary Ag2S to Ternary AgInS2, Quaternary AgZnInS alloy and AgZnInS/ZnS Core/Shell Fluorescent Nanocrystals for Bioimaging

Attention on semiconductor nanocrystals have been largely focused because of their unique optical and electrical properties, which can be applied as light absorber and luminophore. However, the band gap and structure engineering of nanomaterials is not so easy because of their finite size. Here we demonstrate an approach for preparing ternary AgInS2 (AIS), quaternary AgZnInS (AZIS), AgInS2/ZnS and AgZnInS/ZnS nanocompounds based on cation exchange. First, pristine Ag2S quantum dots (QDs) with different sizes were synthesized in one-pot, followed by the partial cation exchange between In(3+) and Ag(+). Changing the initial ratio of In(3+) to Ag(+), reaction time and temperature can control the components of the obtained AIS QDs. Under the optimized conditions, AIS QDs were obtained for the first time with a cation disordered cubic phase and high photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY) up to 32% in aqueous solution, demonstrating the great potential of cation exchange in the synthesis for nanocrystals with excellent optical properties. Sequentially, Zn(2+) ions were incorporated in situ through a second exchange of Zn(2+) to Ag(+)/In(3+), leading to distinct results under different reaction temperature. Addition of Zn(2+) precursor at room temperature produced AIS/ZnS core/shell NCs with successively enhancement of QY, while subsequent heating could obtain AZIS homogeneous alloy QDs with a successively blue-shift of PL emission. This allow us to tune the PL emission of the products from 483 to 675 nm and fabricate the chemically stable QDs core/ZnS shell structure. Based on the above results, a mechanism about the cation exchange for the ternary nanocrystals of different structures was proposed that the balance between cation exchange and diffusion is the key factor of controlling the band gap and structure of the final products. Furthermore, photostability and in vitro experiment demonstrated quite low cytotoxicity and remarkably promising applications in the field of clinical diagnosis.